A/N: My apologies for my lack of updates, life has been rather hectic as of late and I have been struggling with coming up with another "humour" based chapter…
She's the first one I noticed when I walked into the room, a slender woman wrapped head to toe in black, a perfect imitation of Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman. I can't tell if it's someone I know or not, the blood red lips and heavily charcoaled eyes combine with the black mask to make her unidentifiable while the skin tight black suit and thigh high black leather boots make her irresistible. Bieste had promised there would be plenty of available women at her Halloween party, plenty of women to get my mind off the redhead that haunts my dreams, but Catwoman was the only single woman in the room so far as I could tell.
I've caught her staring a few times but she always looks away quickly when I catch her eye and I wonder if it's worth putting in the effort to introduce myself. I've been single nearly six months now and Emma's marriage has been officially annulled for four but she has made it abundantly clear that she is not ready for a relationship, so I dressed up like a fool tonight, hoping to find someone to distract me.
I feel like an ass as I walk the perimeter of the room. How I ever let Sue convince me that dressing up like Captain America was a good idea I'll never know; I must have been drunk. I discreetly tug the blue spandex tights out of my butt and sigh; this evening has been a lot less enjoyable than I'd anticipated. Most of the party is absolutely trashed and talking about going out to egg houses, it was amazing how quickly a little alcohol can regress a bunch of adults back to middle school.
Catwoman smiles coyly as I approach and I take it as a good sign, her eyes are fairly well focused so I assume she isn't nearly so drunk as the rest of them seem to be.
"Hi," I say, nonchalantly grabbing a beer from the cooler beside her. Catwoman just broadens her smile and takes a sip from her red plastic cup. We watch in silence as Shannon Bieste, dressed as Thor, picks up a scrawny cowboy and bodily ejects him from the house after he shattered a beer bottle on the kitchen floor. Catwoman lets out a low chuckle beside me and I slide my eyes to the side. She drains her cup and lifts the lid on the cooler, frowning when she finds only beer and half melted ice. Trying again I ask,
"Can I get you something to drink?" I wonder if she is friends with Shannon or if she came with the guy across the room dressed as Batman. Maintaining her silence Catwoman nods and follows me to the kitchen, passing a group of costumed idiots with a carton of eggs. I tug open Shannon's refrigerator and sitting front and centre is a tray of Jell-O shots. Catwoman's hand snakes over my shoulder and snags two shots and a can of premixed Jack and cola. I pull myself out of the fridge and resist the urge to pull my tights out of my butt again as Catwoman hands me the orange Jello-O shot.
Without waiting for me, Catwoman tilts her head back and I swallow hard as her tongue flicks along the edge of the cup to release the shot. I am still staring dumbfounded when she licks her lips and smiles at me as she tosses her cup in the garbage. Hastily I swallow the shot she'd handed me and follow her retreating form out the back door. We find seats on a bench next to the roaring bonfire in the backyard, the party has died down significantly since the drunkest and stupidest have gone off to wreak havoc on the neighbourhood.
"So how do you know Shannon?" I ask, dying to find out more about this enigma in black leather. Catwoman stays maddeningly silent, her eyes focused on Batman, who has just stumbled drunkenly from the house and fallen ungracefully down the steps and into a bush. Her voice is gravelly from smoke and alcohol when she turns her attention back to me but I swear I recognize it,
"She's a friend," is all she tells me. The way she's leaning back on the bench has gotten me distracted. The zipper on the front of the skin tight body suit seems to have slid down to reveal pale skin and a hint of cleavage. I watch as Batman struggles to his feet, his cape tangled around his head and his mask askew, Catwoman sighs quietly beside me,
"Your boyfriend?" I venture and she barks out a laugh.
"Hardly," she tells me and I breathe an inward sigh of relief. "I'm going to call it a night," she tells me and I quickly gather my courage to ask,
"Can I get your number?"
Catwoman just smiles and saunters away.
Why I tell the cab driver Emma's address I'm not entirely sure. Her apartment is dark when I arrive and I am on the doorstep debating with myself if I should wake her up when the door is buzzed open. I tug the tights out of my butt crack for what has to be the fiftieth time tonight and I enter the lobby before I can second guess myself.
I spend the whole elevator ride telling myself that I should just go home and yet I end up in front of Emma's apartment anyway. The door opens suddenly and I am confronted by Emma in a floor length robe; it is a sight that makes my mouth go dry.
"Will?" she questions, her eyes clouded with concern, "Is that you?"
Cursing Sue and my own stupidity, I pull off the mask, "Uh yeah," I stumble. "I'm sorry, I know it's late."
"Do you want to some in?" My heart nearly stops when she utters those words.
"Um yeah, sure."
I squirm uncomfortably on the couch, trying and failing to wiggle the tights into a more comfortable position, a cup of coffee on the table before me.
"Are you okay Will?" Emma asks.
"Please give me another chance," I beg her and the moment I say the words, I regret them.
"Will…" she starts.
"I'm so sorry Em, I never meant to hurt you. I want to make this work."
We both startle as an egg splatters on Emma's window,
"I hate Halloween," she sighs, pushing herself up from the couch to assess the damage. Another egg cracks on the windowpane as Emma looks out, "You know, if I didn't know any better, I would swear that was Sue." I am behind her, trying to get a good look at the retreating red jumpsuit carrying a carton of eggs, when she turns to face me with mere inches separating us. I take a quick step back and apologize.
Much to my surprise, Emma's hands find their way into the waistband of my spandex tights,
"How on earth did Sue convince you to wear this?" Emma asks me.
"I don't know. Wait. How do you know Sue talked me into this?" Emma bit her lip, clearly caught.
"We may have had a bet," she admits to me quietly.
I am stunned as she tugs me towards her bedroom,
"Emma?" I question, "What's going on here?"
"I'm sick of the games Will," she tells me, crawling into bed. "I'm sick of being the pushover, the invalid. I am taking control of my life from now on."
I really wish I wasn't having this conversation dressed as Captain America. I struggle to find words, to make sense of what exactly Emma is telling me.
"Well Captain? Care to join me?" Emma asks, patting the bed beside her.
I joined her on the bed a little stiffly, still waiting to wake up from what could only be a dream.
"I've been a bad pussy cat," Emma purrs in my ear and I hear the gravel from smoke and alcohol slink back into her voice.
"Catwoman," I breathe and Emma throws her head back and laughs a throaty chuckle I've never heard from her before. All evidence of the heavy makeup is gone from her face but she shimmies out of the robe and I am treated to the sight of Emma clad in thigh high black leather boots and a black body suit unzipped nearly to her navel. I swallow hard, "Emma…"
"Shut up Will. I am done with talking. It's time you prove to me how much you love me." As an afterthought she adds, "And how sorry you are."
My lips find hers and I feel her struggle to relieve me of my stupid costume. I growl escapes her and I laugh, enjoying this new side of Emma. Breaking free from my kiss she hums in my ear,
"I'd rip them off but I kind of want you to keep them. They make your butt look fantastic. I had trouble keeping my hands off of you at the party."
I owed Sue. Big time.
Up Next: hurt/comfort, blackboard, first person - Emma